FourHandsFull

While I was still pregnant with Ava and Noa, random people would look at my belly and say stuff like: "Anytime now, eh?" The sad thing is that this started when I was only like 7 months pregnant. So every time we went shopping, they'd say that, and after I would reveal that I actually had a couple of months left, they'd ALWAYS say: "Well, you'll have your hands full." I eventually heard this about a gazillion times and now can laugh about it, but back then I was SO annoyed, especially when people didn't offer their help. Once we flew somewhere and people would make such comments, I almost cried because nobody offered their help carrying stuff, even if they only had one thing to carry.

Now when I go shopping or go somewhere with all the kids, I hear "You've got you hands full!" all the time but take it as a compliment. I often reply: "Well, better full than empty, right?" Then I smile and answer all their question about how I can handle so many kids, especially in the store. I like letting people know that we have a positive attitude about our kids. I'm sure the kids appreciate it, too. We want them to always feel that they are special and wanted, and even though they ARE a lot of work and we really have our hands full, we wouldn't want it to be different.

We chose FourHandsFull as our blog title because it kind of sums up our life in one word. Lincoln and I really "have our hands full." Four busy hands taking care of four precious kids and managing life in medical school or supporting it, plus taking care of all the random things related to it all. Our hands ARE full, and we feel blessed. :)

It's about time...

...to write my first post on this blog. It has only been months since this blog was created. We're very excited to share some Westfall family happenings with family and friends through this blog. What a great way to (re)connect. I love reading friends' blogs and getting to know them better. The last few years have been very hard to keep everyone updated and write each person individually. We usually send out an annual Christmas/Easter letter, but we want you guys to feel more included by reading frequent updates.

I, Rebecca, will be writing most of the posts, all in English, my second language. This will help me to learn to express myself better in English and hopefully learn a few more words. This is a real challenge for me. I've lived in this country for almost 6 years now, but I have had the feeling that I really need to improve and expand my vocabulary to decrease the times of being misunderstood and misunderstanding people. It will also help my family to have no excuse to learn English better, an important skill in the world nowadays. Plus if it was in German a ton of people would have no idea what it says. This way you have to get the dictionary out and translate. Really, I only want the best for you, mom! :)